Comparative anatomical study of petiole and leaves on six species of Garcinia L

The present study designed to explore anatomical features of petiole and leaves of G. cambogioides, G. gummi-gutta, G. indica, G. spicata, G. talbotii and G. xanthochymus belong to family Clusiaceae. In Indian System of Medicine Garcinia, the fruit of Garcinia, fruit rind and seeds are also utilized in the treatment of various ailments in the Ayurveda system. The morphological characters such as leaf shape, tip, margin, base, type & venation are studied. Microscopic characters of petiole, leaf midrib and lamina of Garcinia species investigation would be used for differentiation between the species. Among the present study, presence of collenchyma cells in petiole of G. cambogioides and G. talbotii, absence of crystal in G. talbotii, presence of trichome in G. spicata. In Midrib sclerenchyma cells with broad-lumen, thick-walled cells in G. indica are the major differentiable characteristics observed. Morpho-anatomical characters have been investigated through numerical method using 42 distinct characters and the characters based average similarity of distances on UPGMA.